Automatic vending machines have become commonplace in public places offering consumers a variety of products from soft drinks to DVD rentals. Many of these vending devices vend more than one product or service and sometimes at different prices. Conventional vending devices accept coins, paper currency, credit cards, or debit cards. Vending devices that accept coin or paper currency often fail to accept the coins or currency offered. Such vending devices also require that the consumer have readily available the currency required.
Vending devices that accept credit and debit cards generally require an online or dial-up connection from the vending device to the credit or debit card issuer, merchant bank or to a gateway service offering credit or debit card processing services. Any of these approaches can be used to verify the availability of funds or credit and thereby authorize the completion of the transaction at the vending device. The online or dial-up connection to the vending device must be secure and must generally be a dedicated connection that is available on demand to insure satisfactory transactions in terms of speed and reliability.
Vending machines or devices as referred to herein include copiers; facsimile machines; printers; data ports; laptop print stations; laundry machines; drink, snack, health food and candy vending machines; DVD and other movie media rental machines; cart rentals; personal service access time rentals as in massage tables, massage beds, foot massagers; access time on air/vacuum dispensing machines; access time on pay-per-play games or per game rental on pay-per-play games referred to as a vending device. A personal wireless communication device includes not only cell phones but also a personal digital assistant (PDA), IPOD, IPHONE, Smartphone, laptop computer or other similar personal wireless communication device, which can be used to communicate with a remote server.
In the past there have been attempts to vend products or services without using cash but these have been primarily concerned with the use of credit cards in which the vending machine has a connection to the world wide internet or some other communication to approve the use of the credit card. One prior system as disclosed in the Whigham U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,309 is for a method of authorizing the purchase of a product from an automatic vending machine by means of a consumer's cellular telephone. In this system the consumer uses a cellular phone to request a product from a vending machine by dialing a specified telephone number to connect the consumer's phone to a server operated by a billing agency. The server identifies the product and creates a request for purchase of the product and a transaction record and sends a “vend code” to the consumer's cell phone, which allows the consumer to purchase the product.
Other systems using cellular telephone or wireless communication devices may be seen in the Johnson, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 7,039,389, for a cellular telephone-based retail transaction system for dispensing fuel and in the Carapelli U.S. Pat. No. 7,574,377, for a vending system for vending to purchasers having cellular phones or the like enabled to a wireless internet connection for communication over the internet. The Zhu U.S. Pat. No. 7,577,616, provides for a method for secure authentication or electrical payment utilizing a random ID verification method through a mobile communication tool. The Defosse et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,884 uses a wireless interface module to interface with a vending machine control system to allow communication between vending machines and a wireless network by coupling a transceiver to the wireless interface module. The Khan et al U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,236 is for a micropayment financial transaction process utilizing wireless network processing while the McGarry et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,491, is for a monitoring and reporting system using a cellular carrier.
Other prior U.S. Patents include the Morrill, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,749 for a wireless telephoney for collecting tolls, conducting financial transactions, and authorizing other activities and the Birch et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,213,742 for a fuel dispensing system having a plurality of fuel dispensers capable of conducting a fueling transaction using a customer's cellular telephone.
The present invention relates to a Vending Universal Wireless Interface (VUWI) which includes Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless LAN or other RF Transceiver with outputs that can be connected to a vending device's controller. A vending Devices controller or Vending Machine Controller (VMC) may support one or more cabling or software protocols including a Multi-Drop Data Bus (MDB), a Pulse Interface or a serial interface to a general microprocessor used to control a vending device. The VUWI contains a power supply, a microprocessor, an RF Transceiver using either Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless LAN or other RF Transceiver protocols, physical connector outputs that can be connected to a vending device's controller (VMC) and a USB interface. Optionally the VUWI can also contain a vending machine interface to accept DEX data from the vending machine's controller.